With over 7 billion active mobile users worldwide and the count increasing every day, the future of the mobile app development industry seems bright.
- According to Statista, global app downloads reached 257 billion in the year 2023.
- Moreover, mobile apps are expected to generate over $613 billion by 2025.
Such growth is attributed to the increased smartphone penetration and app usage with no signs of slowing down. All this has inclined businesses to want to build their online presence more towards mobile application development companies for help. However, with many technologies emerging in the market, there becomes great confusion about which technology would be ideal to choose.
Among the competitive mobile app development trends, Flutter and React Native are two technologies that have gained huge traction among businesses with a popular query of which one is the best of both. Although both technologies are great for building cross-platform apps using the same code and save time and money investment alike.
But there are many key differences as well that you must consider to make the ideal choice between the both.
Let’s get started!
What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source framework launched by Google and backed by Dart programming language. Earlier, Flutter was ideal for mobile app development only. Now, developers leverage it to build cross-platform apps for multiple platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, and web apps.
It comes with pre-designed widgets to help build a flexible and appealing UI with optimal app performance.
What is React Native?
React Native is a well-known JavaScript framework widely used to build Android and iOS apps using the same codebase. Combining XML, Esque mark-up JSX, and JavaScript, developers can develop native elements and UI with a creative appeal while maintaining cost-efficiency and flexibility in the development process.
Flutter vs React Native: A Quick Comparison
Both the frameworks have their own weaknesses and strengths and choosing the one between the two depends on multiple factors. Let’s discuss them in detail.
User-Interface
Both the Flutter and React Native app development vary in terms of UI. React Native seeks the help of custom or third-party components to tap into Android or iOS app’s UI development.
On the other hand, Flutter leverages customized widgets available for both in Cupertino for Apple and Material Design for Google. This one possible factor makes it ideal to consider the right framework for your best UI development of the application.
Learning Curve
JavaScript is an easy-to-learn language. However, when using it for mobile app development, the transition may become quite cumbersome. Hence, when choosing a framework for development, hire React Native developers with keen knowledge and understanding of JS.
Dart language uses a number of object-oriented concepts that are quite complex to learn. However, once you get familiar, learning the Flutter framework becomes smooth.
Performance
Performance comparison between Flutter and React Native framework relies on two key aspects – app size and loading speed. The apps designed on the Flutter framework load slightly quickly. Also, Flutter has a default smoothness setting of 60fps which contributes to the application’s optimal performance.
On the other hand, React Native requires a JS bridge for the functioning of apps. It slightly hinders the app’s performance as compared to the Flutter-based app’s speed.
Libraries and Packages
Flutter framework emerged after React Native was introduced so it has a small community and is growing a package collection on the ‘pub.dev‘ repository. Its wide variety of packages cater to networking, user interfaces, database integration, and many other needs.
On the contrary, React Native has been in the market for a very long time along with a huge community of dedicated developers. It has a vast collection of libraries and packages available on the JS package registry, ‘npm.’ Many of these packages can be utilized for mobile solutions like network requests, improved navigation, and so on.
Installation
If we talk about ease of installation, the React Native framework can be easily and quickly installed using Node Package Manager. Developers with knowledge of JavaScript may find the installation process much easier.
On the other hand, the installation process of Flutter involves downloading a specific binary semantic for Github. Moreover, there is one additional step of downloading a flutter.zip file and adding it as the Path variable, unlike the React Native making the process quite lengthy.
Technical Architecture
The technical architecture of both React Native and Flutter varies. React Native depends on components like JS bridge that help to compile JavaScript into Native code in real-time. It further uses Flux architecture supported by Facebook, requiring JS bridging.
Flutter, on the contrary, requires no programming bridge to interact with native modules. This framework uses the Skia C++ graphics engine. Additionally, the unidirectional flow of data is influenced by RefluxJS.
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Development Time
The support of customized widgets in the Flutter framework reduces the time-to-market of the application. However, a deep understanding and knowledge of Dart programming is required.
React Native, on the other hand, ensures quick development but the use of native elements and JS bridging adds to the overall time, increasing the time-to-market as compared to that of Flutter.
Code Maintenance
Flutter app maintenance is an easy process, thanks to the external debugging tools available and the code simplicity.
On the other hand, debugging React Native apps involves the use of third-party libraries. As a result, many compatibility issues occur that make the debugging process quite complex.
Detailed Documentation
Flutter documentation is well-organized, including everything from articles, news, special use cases shared via Git repositories, and more required to build top-notch Flutter apps.
React Native, on the other hand, has chaotic documentation as it is dependent on third-party libraries.
Community Support
React Native has a huge community of dedicated developers that is highly active and eager to address any query without making you wait for long. The developers can access multiple online forums to begin productive conversations with the other experts.
Flutter does not have a huge community of dedicated developers like React Native. However, the support offered is really helpful and quick.
Which One to Choose: Flutter or React Native?
The answer to this query depends. If we talk about framework performance and design, Flutter wins. In the case of usability, developers well-versed in Dart language prefer the clean, quick, and native Flutter framework.
On the other hand, React Native is the choice of developers who prefer the ease of JavaScript and access to built-in modules and plugins. And if the need is a dedicated developer community along with the support from third parties, again React Native can be the ideal choice.
Final Thoughts
So, there’s no good or worse choice. The selection of the right framework highly relies on the developer’s expertise and the overall development project requirements. Besides, if you are seeking expert assistance for your development project, regardless of which technology you choose, hire a reputable software development company.
At Orion eSolutions, the team of dedicated Flutter and React Native development experts is always available and eager to help maximize your business potential, no matter if it is a web app development or mobile app development requirement.
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